16949. (Added by Stats. 1990, Ch. 51, Sec. 35.5.)

(a) The Legislature recognizes that in the context of hospital services rendered as a result of emergency medical conditions, the application of the supplemental services requirement of Section 30125 of the Revenue and Taxation Code and Section 13 of Chapter 1331 of the Statutes of 1989 includes certain unique considerations, including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Hospital emergency room patient loads generally are not controlled by the facility.

(2) The facility is obligated, as a condition of licensure, to take all patients in need of emergency treatment, if it is within the capacity of the facility to do so.

(3) It is the policy of the Legislature to provide less expensive alternative methods of care, rather than continue present patterns of overutilization of emergency facilities.

(b) Hospitals which provide appropriate treatment to patients who present in the emergency department and which do not impose any barriers to patients’ receipt of that treatment shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of Section 30125 of the Revenue and Taxation Code and Section 13 of Chapter 1331 of the Statutes of 1989.